The first ever Gross County Product (GCP) 2019 study by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) provides a measure of how much each country contributes to Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product. The study tracks the monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced within each of the 47 counties.
Nairobi emerged top with a GCP of 21.7 percent in a five year period of the study (2013-2017). The rest of the top 10 counties include Nakuru (6.1 percent), Kiambu (5.5 percent), Mombasa (4.7 percent), Machakos (3.2 percent), Meru (2.9 percent) and Kisumu (2.9 percent), Nyandarua (2.6 percent) Kakamega (2.4 percent) and Uasin Gishu (2.3 percent). Isiolo at 0.2 per cent and Samburu at 0.3 per cent trailed the list of contributors to the national wealth, according to the report.
In providing the GCP of each county, the chairperson of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) Jane Kiringai said the study had identified the missing piece of the jig-saw puzzle that is revenue sharing. The report is expected to help shape the revenue sharing debate, she added. “The overarching objective of the GCP estimates is to provide a picture of the economic structure and relative size of the economy for each county,” says the study. “The estimates are expected to be instrumental in informing economic growth and supporting county-level decision making and economic planning.”